The Penderwicks at Crestwood
by Sunnydaysgoldenrays
Summary: The Penderwicks are off again, to a new place this time. This time their path takes them to Road Island and a place called Crestwood
1. Skye

**The last Penderwicks story I did was very short. Sorry, this one I plan about 15 chapters**.

**I don't own the rights to the Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall does.**

I hate car rides. It's not that I hate the ride itself, no; it's that the people I happen to be with make it intoxicating. There is no valid reason to the fact that I'm stuck in the back seat with a dog and Jane, none. I guess it's my own fault, Batty had claimed one of two middle seats and asked Rosalind to sit with her, this had happened before I had woke up and Jeffrey had claimed the front seat as he wanted to sit with his father.

"Alec, are we there yet?" I ask, as he's the one driving and should know. We're heading to a type of ranch in Road Island it's by the water and daddy rented for the summer saying "_loca de novo__, __novum__vultus__._" New places, new faces, and then he added in English "You can't always go to Maine, and I've invited Jeffrey and Alec so you won't be missing out on them." Him, Iantha and Ben wouldn't join them until the middle of July because Iantha had to work. Alec didn't seem to be listening as there was some type of orchestra music playing so I wadded up a piece of paper from Jane's notebook, earning an indigent "hey!" and chucked at him.

"Why did you do that Skye?" asks Alec, he didn't even turn around.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Only you would launch a ball of paper at a person while he's trying to drive," answers Alec, Jeffrey laughs so I take more paper from Jane and throw some at him too, then I ask my question again and with a glance at the directions he's holding Jeffrey tells me that we only have five more minutes left. Good because I don't think I can go much longer hearing Batty sing The Song That Never Ends or Jane babble about Sabrina Starr.

Just as I'm about to give up hope and die right then and there the car stops and Jeffrey crows "We're here!" I'm unbuckled in a flash and climbing over Batty and Rosalind to get out of the car.

"Skye!" Rosalind protests, I ignore her though as I need to get out of here, I fling the door open and jump out, "whoa," I say, in front of me there's a big white farm house with red shutters, over to one side and it seems like it goes to the back as well is a large pasture with horses and the other side is a lawn perfect for soccer, I can also see the water behind the house. My sisters, Jeffrey and Alec join me and the first word uttered by any of them is "horses!" this of course is Batty, people begin to talk now, the shock of the house worn off a bit, Jane goes on about how this is a perfect setting for her new book, the rest of us just a bunch of happy noises, when a man looking to be in his early twenties comes over to us and Alec says hello.

"Hey," says the man "I'm the caretaker of Crestwood, and I'll be takin' care of the horses for you, I live just 'cross the road."

"It's nice to meat you. My name is Alec McGrath" Says Alec "It's also nice to know someone will take care of the horses as none of us have any experience in that."

"John Garley, and don't worry about the horses, I can teach the kids to ride if they want" then he nodes his head towards me, my sisters and Jeffrey, "they all yours?"

Alec smiles, "Jeffrey is mine," he put a hand on Jeffrey's shoulder, "the girls are family friends, their father, step mother and brother will be joining us in July." We introduce our selves, John seems nice, even though he had called us kids, I am 15 not really a kid anymore.

"Will you really teach us to ride?" asks Batty, I could see the surprised looks on everyone's faces and I know mine looks the same, Batty rarely talks to new people.

John smiles "Of course, I'll be in the barn behind your house at 7:00 tomorrow morning, why don't you all come out about 8:00? That should give the horses enough time to eat."

"We'd love to, thank you Mr. Garley." Said Rosalind, her polite instincts kicking in,

"No problem, you can all call me John as well, Mr. makes me feel old," he laughs "for what it's worth, welcome to Crestwood."

...***...

The house is just as magnificent, ugh I sound like Jane, on the inside it is on the outside, all wood floors and tall ceilings, there are two bedrooms downstairs, Alec takes the smaller of the two and goes to unpack, leaving the larger for daddy and Iantha. I'm about to go upstairs to pick my room when Rosalind says "hound draws for order" I groan and Jeffrey pokes me,

"Come on Skye, maybe you'll get lucky,"

"Fat chance" I say

The usual preparations begin and then Batty lets go of hound's collar, he picks Batty first, typical, then Jeffrey, Jane and…oh my…Skye. "He didn't pick me last!" I explode; this was going to be a good vacation.

The rooms were picked, Batty's is a light yellow and has bunk beds in it, "Ben and I can share." She says, Jeffrey's is a blue color and to his great joy, has a piano in it, Jane finds a room, much like her room at Arundel was, on the third floor, I find a room that was a lighter blue then Jeffrey's, more like a sky blue, this makes me considerably happy, blue sky blue eyes, I think. Rosalind's room although she was picked last is very nice, the walls are light green and the floor, all planks, is painted brown.

After I unpack I head to Jeffrey's room and, as I figured he would be, is seated at the piano. I grab him arm and pull him off the bench, "hey!" protests Jeffrey "come on," I say "I want to check out the water."

We go down a few steps and find a beach; I take my shoes off and run to the water, Jeffrey comes right behind me. I go in up to my knees the water feels great, and then I feel a splash on my back, I spin around and see Jeffrey grinning at me, "Oh you're going down Tifton," I say, and then proceed to push him into the water, Jeffrey comes up still grinning "we're playing this game then?" he says "alright" and grabs my hand and pulls me under. When we come I hear Hound barking and people laughing,

"You've been here less than half an hour and you're already drenched." Says Rosalind, who, as well as Jane and Batty had thought to put swimsuits on, they come over and I grab Batty and Jeffrey grabs Rosalind and Jane and a splash/dunk war breaks out for the rest of the afternoon.

After we had all dried up Alec seats us at the kitchen table for dinner. "So, children and otherwise," says Alec looking at Hound, "how was your first day at Crestwood?"

"It was amazing," I say and everyone agrees with lots of greats and wonderfuls and a fantastic on Batty's part.

"Good," says Alec and smiles "Now, let's eat."

…..***…..

**Like it? Love it? Review it!**

**~Sunny **


	2. Jeffrey

**Hello everyone! Sorry the update took so long. I will be away for three weeks coming up so no updates till maybe August. **

…*****…**

I love car rides, they're always so much fun, and the people I'm with happen to make it ever more so. I'm sitting in the front seat with my father, Alec McGrath and the Penderwick sisters are in the back seats, we're heading to a type of ranch, I think, and it's in Road Island, Mr. Penderwick rented it for the summer, though he, his wife and her son won't be able to join us until the middle of July due to work. Alec and I have orchestra music playing and he keeps trying to imitate it. All of the sudden I hear paper crumpling and I can guess what's coming next, _thump, _I was right.

"Why did you do that Skye?" asks Alec, not even turning around.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Only you would launch a ball of paper at a person while he's trying to drive," answers Alec, I laugh and earn a wad of paper chucked at my head as well."

"Are we there yet?" Skye asks, I look at the directions in my hands and tell her we only have five more minutes. Skye struggles for those five minutes; I think she's restraining herself from killing Jane, who keeps talking about Sabrina Starr, or Batty, who keeps singing The Song That Never Ends. "We're here!" I shout.

"Skye!" I hear Rosalind say and turn around to see her climbing over everyone to get out of the car, we all follow, when I get out I see a big white farm house with red shutters, over to one side and it seems like it goes to the back as well is a large pasture with horses and the other side is a lawn perfect for soccer, I can also see the water behind the house. We all stand in silence for a couple seconds then Batty exclaims "Horses!" which is followed by the rest of us babbling about the house and the lawn and the water, when a man comes over to us

"Hey," says the man "I'm the caretaker of Crestwood, and I'll be takin' care of the horses for you, I live just 'cross the road."

"It's nice to meat you. My name is Alec McGrath" Says Alec "It's also nice to know someone will take care of the horses as none of us have any experience in that."

"John Garley, and don't worry about the horses, I can teach the kids to ride if they want" then he nodes his head towards me, my sisters and Jeffrey, "they all yours?"

Alec smiles, "Jeffrey is mine," he put a hand on my shoulder, "the girls are family friends, their father, step mother and brother will be joining us in July." We introduce our selves and I can see the look on her face from calling her a kid.

"Will you really teach us to ride?" asks Batty, I'm a bit taken a back at this, Batty rarely talks to new people.

John smiles "Of course, I'll be in the barn behind your house at 7:00 tomorrow morning, why don't you all come out about 8:00? That should give the horses enough time to eat."

"We'd love to, thank you Mr. Garley." Said Rosalind, her polite instincts kicking in,

"No problem, you can all call me John as well, Mr. makes me feel old," he laughs "for what it's worth, welcome to Crestwood."

...***...

I'm up at 6:45 the next day, get dressed and look over at the piano in my room, is it to early to play? My room is at the end of the hallway with only Skye's bedroom next to it, I look to the wall, then back at the piano, then back to the wall. I sit down at the piano and start to play, I only get one minute into the piece when I'm interrupted by a banging on the wall.

"Jeffrey Tifton McGrath! Why in the name of anyone's sleep would you be playing piano at 7:00am?"

I look at my clock, "Skye, its only 6:54."

"All the more reason you shouldn't be playing"

I put my foot on the peddle that mutes the piano a bit and start to play again. This time I get two minutes into it when there's some banging from the room holding next door, then my door flies open and Skye bursts in, I turn to face her, "hello" I say

"Jeffrey, why do you need to play piano at-"she looks at the clock "-6:57 in the morning?"

"I wanted to," I say

"Well restrain yourself." She says, then proceeds to flop down on my bed and mess up the covers, "I just made it though," I whine "You'll live," she says and falls asleep.

"Humf" I say, strike one very loud cord on the piano, which she ignores and leave to find breakfast.

…***…

**Sorry it's so short but I wanted to get something before I go.**

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**~Sunny**


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